ours is not visible from the ktchen

on one side is a built in bench, with dividers under it that fit baskets for shoes

on the other side, there are two full height lattice door closets, and in between them is a standard size counter top, i think about 30" wide. Under the counter is a full size pull out trash can (for mail, schoolpapers, etc). On the wall above the counter is a hidden cabinet for keys and such, with a corkboard front

I wish I had a mudroom with cubbies.......

My thought is this. If you need cubbies, you probably have kids. Their stuff automatically equals clutter. if my kids' clutter (4, ages 3-10) is nicely contained in a cubby, I think that's fine. if it's spilling forth, that probably doesn't look so good.

what are your cubbies going to be holding? what about finding a durable, attractive basket/bin to put in the cubby and it can hold the stuff within it.

seeing "organized chaos" from my kitchen wouldn't bother me. seeing "dogpile chaos" from my kitchen would. (just read that and got an entirely different mental image. you know, when they throw all their stuff on the floor and it piles up into a mountain.)

I'm probably not a good person to ask! I have four kids, ages 6-11, so a good amount of clutter. Yes, we have a mudroom with cubbies, and yes, it is visible from the kitchen. In fact, when I'm standing at the kitchen sink, I'm looking directly through it to the back door. Originally, I had a window over my sink but we added on, and I badly wanted a mudroom. The only place to put it was to on the other side of the kitchen on the back of the house. We have a water view, so I didn't want to lose the view so we have double doors about 8 feet in front of the kitchen sink that I look out when I'm standing at the sink. The cubbies are to the left and then I have some shelves (full of horrible clutter that I want to organize!), a beverage fridge and few other things across from the cubbies. Our cubbies are open and divided, one per child and they wrap around two sides. At that point during our addition, we couldn't add more to the budget to have a carpenter build them for us, so dh made them. I'd love to have them look custom!

Our mudroom is not fancy, nor large - more of a back entry/storage room. Here is a very old picture taken seven years ago when dh first built them. If I showed you a picture now, you'd be horrified. Here's the thing - my kids, despite my efforts to keep their cubbies neat, just can't seem to keep their shoes in the baskets or their coats actually on the hooks. THey come home, toss their backpacks into the space and throw their coats on top. Annoying. That said, if I felt like having it be a hill for me to die on, I'd be more anal about them keeping the cubbies neater. When I'm standing at the sink, I don't really notice their mess b/c the cubbies are off to the side in not in my direct line of sight. I'm just happy if their stuff is actually IN their cubbie, b/c for me, having them be able to find their own things in the morning is more important than whether it's looking totally nice. As the mom of four, I've come to the realization that my home is going to look lived in for a while!

In hindsight, I wish that we had added white beadboard to the back instead of it being open to the wall behind. Oh my, that black/white coat was worn when my 11 y/o was just three. She's almost 12 now!

Thanks so much, everyone. I do have kids - a 3 year old, an almost 2 year old and one due in 5 weeks :) The three year old will start school next Sept. I don't think I'll mind the coats/clutter on the hooks more the shoes... Perhaps I need to search and ask for people to post their shoe baskets and shoe solutions... the open shoe shelves below the lockers I think would drive me nuts as I know they would not stay orderly (just as much my DH as the kids).

just as an fyi - I had my hubby build shoe cubbies into our area... he did a great job. I labeled 2 cubbies for each kid. I did a great job.

do you think any of my 4 kids actually KEEP their shoes there? arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. they do not do a great job. we still have the great shoe search on a semi-weekly basis.

perhaps it's a "you can lead them to water, but you can't make them drink" situation.

good luck with whatever you end up choosing. and if the kids actually follow your plan, you are a lucky mom indeed!!! (as I said, 4 kids. 3, 6, 8, 10)

We have seven kids, ages 7-13: shoes and jackets everywhere! We are builing cabinets into the entire long wall of our dining room. The upper cabinets and one base cabinet are for us, and then each child gets one 18" wide base cabinet for his backpack, jacket, and shoes. The rule is that they have to keep them closed!!!

i love our mudroom. i wish i had a recent pic since the light fixture is up. it's a gorgeous beveled glass moravian star pendant. when dh saw it he got upset and said it was "too nice". no way! there's no such thing! the cubbies will have doors on them even though many think this is a bad idea. apparently kids don't always open a door to put something away. mine will, because i will bribe them.

cubbies will be stained.
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Kate - I love your mudroom - Can you tell me what parts you are putting doors on? All compartments or just the locker area? What are you doing below for the shoes? Did you have this done by a carpenter and are adding doors yourself? Is that easy to do? Thanks so much!

There are some fine looking cubbies on this post. We have a "mudroom" visible from our kitchen table. We don't have specific containers for shoes because I can't bear to think of putting shoes with outside dirt on the soles into baskets or on wooden cabinetry. So, the shoes get neatly set on the floor, if they are clean, and get picked up every day. The really dirty shoes stay out in the garage on a raised shoe rack that I stole from one of our closets. So, I guess I don't really have a mudroom:) The muddy stuff stays in the garage and honestly we probably have about 8 pairs of shoes out there constantly.

We do use the hooks in the mudroom to hang up coats and jackets and my people put their backbacks there. And I put my backpack there when I get home from work!

My favorite thing is the deep bench which lifts up for quick storage of stuff. My least favorite thing are the drawers. They are too high to be of frequent use. (Although I do have an outlet in one of them...it was a waste.)

My kids are older, one in college and then a 16 and a 13 year old. So, I wasn't as interested in having divided areas, although I think kateskouros idea of the doors is a great transition. I am pretty sure this will still be a very useful area when the kids are gone, and it happens so quickly!

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My husband got a canvas cube thing from the hardware store. They are 12"x12"x12". They work great for storing kid shoes. We had them on the bottom shelf of a bookcase. I think I am going to get one for my everyday shoes.

Something like the one in the link below (but ours are tan colored).

Here is a link that might be useful: canvas bin

I love all three of these ideas. I am trying to find some sort of shoe storage and a bench as well. So far, the cabinet manufacturers that I have looked at don't have many or any choices. These all look like custom units to me - are they?

Think about the stuff kids tend to have (and how it changes with age and interests), the climate where you live, and the extra storage you have available. Will a one-size-fits-all locker system be versatile enough for your needs in the future? During New England winters each of my 2 kids had several coats--the old snug one as a back up to the newer, better fitting one and a 3-season jacket for warmer days and rides in the car. They had snow boots and then the boots that were too snug but could do in a pinch. They also had cross country ski boots.

I designed cubbies for our old mudroom and dh built them. They were a big mistake. The sizes weren't versatile enough for our storage needs and they always looked messy. I couldn't wait to tear them out (dh wasn't happy after all his hard work!) Now we have 2 closets (with storage above), an armoire with deep, adjustable, wide shelves), a chest of drawers and doors, lots of coat hooks on the walls (my favorites are the ones over the radiator), a bench with a lift up lid (and chute to the basement for non breakable recyclables and returnables).

The storage is now versatile and efficient.
--The chest of drawers/doors holds hats and mittens, flashlights and misc, maps, address books and take out menus, reusable shopping bags, umbrellas, pet supplies, recyclable and returnable glass, newspapers. The top is used for charging cell phones, sorting mail, and storing coupons, stamps and address labels. Shoes are stored underneath.

--The armoire has wide, deep, adjustable shelves and a deep drawer. It holds soft sided coolers, water bottles, basket of clothes pins, binoculars, camcorder and psp (with an electric strip for charging), snowpants, extra hats, mittens and scarves, and the paper shredder. I would use it for backpacks if I wanted that type of storage. There is room underneath for more shoe storage. A very large stock pot, tall glass storage jars and extra glass cookie jars get stored on top.

--The coat closet holds lesser used coats, boots, and tall items (i.e. kites, archery equipment, big umbrellas). We recycled our cubbies and put a tower in each closet for storage.

--The other closet holds vacuums and cleaning supplies.

--The radiator is a really popular spot in the winter for drying boots, mittens and coats. I love putting on a warm jacket before going out the door. We also have a radiator in the powder room off the mudroom for additional drying space.

Here's a picture from the kitchen just after we put in the drawer/door unit. It's messier now with shoes underneath and papers in the sorter on top + other items that have accumulated on top. But it's a whole lot better than the cubbies we used to have along the wall. The coat hooks and bench are to the left of the doorway (the bench is under a window) and the armoire is to the right of the doorway. A little hall goes off the mudroom to the right with the 2 closets and powder room. More coat hooks are on the wall opposite the closets (on the powder room wall.)

I like shoes stored on the floor. They're easy to see and easy to slip on (that's the style I like and dh and ds have muck shoes they slip on to do outside work). When I come in, my slippers are waiting for me next to the radiator.

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thanks, aokat. our trim carpenter built the cubbies and also an adjacent pantry. i found a company that makes the doors and drawer fronts in custom sizes. i'm putting doors on the very top storage areas as well as the long cubbies (coats, back packs, etc...). the bottom will be two drawers for shoes. the section above each cubby is open for basket storage.